Challenges for rural campaigns:

Sheila-Bynum Coleman

Sheila Bynum-Coleman, the Democratic candidate for the 62nd Virginia House District, shared some of the strategies she is learning from the Rural Caucus of the Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) and other organizations, about how to campaign effectively in rural or exurban districts. Needless to say, religious communities can play a major role in this effort, directly or indirectly, congregations are fertile sources of voters and campaign volunteers. How best to reach them? Providing literature and speaking when allowed are terribly important musts for a campaign.

Rebecca S. Colaw, the Suffolk lawyer who is the Democratic candidate for the 64th Virginia House District, was on her way to the meeting when she was stalled by a massive traffic jam in a more populous area of the district. The 64th covers about 80% of Prince George County in terms of territory and voters. We tend to forget about the 64th because the current Republican incumbent did not make himself available to Democratic constituents. Though we are on the northern fringe of the 64th, Prince George represents the second largest voting locality in the 64th. Rebecca reported by phone that she and volunteers are planning on knocking on Prince George doors in late July. She is also using Facebook extensively and asks that we like her page and share it with our friends and other pages.

At this point, Delegate Lashrecse Aird (63rd Virginia House District) is unopposed, but she still needs the support of those in her district to continue her work on behalf of our Tri-Cities area. She and Delegate Price (95th) are hosting a webinar on July 12th at 6:30 pm to discuss new laws which went into effect on July 1. You must rsvp to attend the webinar at www.tinyurl.com/AirdPriceWebinar.

Also in attendance were Floyd Brown, Jr. (“FJ”), candidate for District 1 Board of Supervisors, and Leila Holmes, Candidate for District 2, Prince George School Board.

Remember that all of our candidates need our support … donations, knocking on doors, sharing Facebook messages, texting, and or calling others on their behalf.

Carol Woodward is available to answer any questions about the recent meeting of the 4th Congressional District Committee on June 17. It was a great first meeting of the reorganized 4th CDC. We had a great time and were entirely inspired by Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam, his recent primary opponent Tom Perriello, Senator Mark Warner, and our own 4th CD Congressman, Donald McEachin.

2017 Local Elections in Prince George County

Two Board of Supervisor and two School Board seats will be on the ballot in the November 2017 general election. There will be one of each elected from District 1 and District 2. These offices are in addition to state elections, including the gubernatorial election. More about state elections will be published shortly.

If you are interested in running as a candidate for one of those local government seats, this Local Candidate Bulletin will spell out the required documents, costs, if any, and filing deadlines.

Reeve Ashcraft has already announced publically that he will not run for school board re-election from district 2 and it is assumed that Bill Robertson will run for re-election for the District 2 Board of Supervisor seat. Bill Robertson identifies as a Republican and school board members run as non-partisan, though Reeve Ashcraft identifies as a Republican.